Mo. loses $202M in federal transportation funds

Missouri lost $202 million in federal funding for state and local road, bridge and other transportation improvement projects when Congress failed to repeal a rescission built into the last federal transportation act.

On Sept. 30, the Federal Highway Administration took away $8.708 billion nationally in contract authority from state highway programs. Missouri’s portion of that was $202 million, including $28 million in St. Louis, $13 million in Kansas City and $3.5 million in Springfield.

“About half of this reduction will directly impact projects selected by our local partners. We have completed our calculation of specific project types affected and have passed along the bad news to them,” said MoDOT Director Pete Rahn.

Future bridge improvements on state-maintained highways will be affected because more than $98 million was rescinded from the On-System Bridge program. Another $17.4 million was rescinded from the Off-System Bridge program, which will impact bridge improvements in every county and the city of St. Louis.

Federal funds for transportation enhancement projects, like sidewalks, landscaping and pedestrian and bicycle facilities, were cut by $16.2 million.

More than $17 million was lost in federal funds for congestion mitigation and air quality improvement projects, including more than $15 million in St. Louis and about $2.3 million in Kansas City.